Linda Hogan’s piece “Dwellings” argues that the places inhabited by people are always in motion and going through continuous modification and change unlike the thinking of homes being solid, stable, and, motionless. Hogan’s work is written in an optimistic tone as the author uses language to explain and explore the misinterpretation of human beings’ position in the world. The essay will discuss Hogan’s story and will show how it uses images pulled from the unending changes of nature itself to demonstrate that homes are never as simple and as stationary as they sometimes believe.
Hogan uses the action verb form of “Dwellings” to describe habitats as dynamic and productive places that harbor every creature and the need to respect the natural world. In Hogan’s opening sentence, action verbs such as “cut” and “moving” emphasize homes as products of action, and her image of bees dwelling in a “broken wall” implies that one species can take up a home that is given up by other creatures and survive there. By using abandoned places as a home for bees to manufacture honey it links to her larger aim of analyzing how nature is connected to creatures. Bees have their habitats and sophisticated systems and the way they work creates an impression that homes are not stationary as one may think. Hogan uses imagery to create the picture that creatures can still find dwelling places in an abandoned place.
The author has voiced her essay in the first person (I) to tell her personal thoughts of life and also compare and contrast Mother Nature to human personality. Her phraseology is made of imaginative inner thoughts and song-like meaning given to the patrons hence making her piece lyrical. To show the meaning and give an explanation of the essay, Hogan includes rhetorical devices such as personification and personal experiences. She uses personal diction to create this contemplative tone on how to appreciate homes with the help of nature. To further the meaning of the essay, she uses similes and metaphors to compare her life to the situation or a place that is being described.
The use of a soft voice comes into play as the narrator, Linda Hogan, explains how it feels “watching the bees fly in and out of the hill, hearing summer birds, the light breeze, I felt right in the world. I belonged here.” Hogan uses a soft voice to add examples of how nature can provide peace and harmony and a sense of belonging. She uses her voice to describe that the earth and nature are always living to provide a habitat for many creatures and everything depends on it. She further explains how nature provides for human beings and should be recognized. Hogan uses a pause in showing what the birdhouses used to house which formally describes how nature has the ability to inhabit everything and coexist in peace.
The author refers to nature as “animate and inanimate” (alive and conscious). She tries her poetic ideas to emphasize on psychological functioning between humanity and the natural world and the misconception of humanity’s position in the universe. Hogan explains that even with the silence after the birds entered the nests she knew there were as even when the world tilts life must stay. She uses exemplification in this paragraph to show that the earth and nature are always living and providing for both living and dead creatures. She further uses exemplification and parallel structure to explain how the earth provides and inhabits multiple creatures.
The use of symbolism is evident in Hogan’s work where she is describing where she used to stay in Manitou. She uses “underground movement of water and heat as a symbol to describe life. The aim of this part is to show how dwelling places are much better when people are near and respect the aspect of the earth. Hogan uses symbolism and allusion to describe the shapes of the birdhouses as she sees them as “spired shapes of cathedrals in Italy”. The use of biblical allusion is evident when Hogan describes “the birdhouses not only house them but his memories and his past”.
Humankind should observe more as they have continued to misinterpret and misunderstand their place on the earth. Failure to understand the use of language makes it impossible for animals, human beings, and other creatures to co-exist and survive the world. In the essay, an author is an engaging person as she is both the role and the goal, arguing the ignorance of humans, which makes it hard for them to understand their place on the earth. The analysis of Hogan’s piece shows that human beings’ forms of language and communication limit their understanding and knowledge of their unique place in the universe. Sophistication and the uniqueness of human beings isolate them from the rest of the world and from the balance of nature. Perhaps, if human beings were not sophisticated to such an extent, there would be better co-existence in the world.